$50 bills

[Ulysses]

Man, I am just getting all my questions answered today. You guys are great.

OK, here's one. What's the point of the $50 bill? What purpose does it really serve when you can have $100s and $20s on you?

[elwoodblues]

No real purpose. Just like the nickel. The most you should ever get back in change for each of them is one lousy coin/bill.

[Ulysses]

When you have bills in a wallet/clip/band/etc., you orient them to face the same direction, right? And, of course, order them by denomination. And separate the new 20s/100s from the old ones. Right?

[ArchAngel71857]

What's the point of the $50 bill?

Otherwise Data from Goonies would have said "$20 bill!" (who cares about that) or "$100 bill" and it doesn't have the same catchy chinese engrish as "fifty dollah bill!!!!"


-AA

[elwoodblues]

Chronological by serial number.

[MMMMMM]

"And separate the new 20s/100s from the old ones. Right?"

If you alternate them they stick together less.

[andyfox]

I love fifties. Twenty bucks just doesn't go as far as it used to. And people still look at you funny when you give em a hundred. The perfect bill. Or almost. If only Mark Twain was pictured on it.

Now if we can just do away with pennies . . .

[andyfox]

Yes. And order them by Federal Reserve location, and then numerically by serial number within each location.

[astroglide]

yes i honestly do all of that. i don't keep all the new bills together, but i will keep new ones on the outside just because i like the look better.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes. And order them by Federal Reserve location, and then numerically by serial number within each location.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you might be being facetious here. I hope you're not, though, 'cause it would be cool if you actually did this. It would almost make up for your nonsensical views regarding the fifty.

[Clarkmeister]

[ QUOTE ]
When you have bills in a wallet/clip/band/etc., you orient them to face the same direction, right? And, of course, order them by denomination. And separate the new 20s/100s from the old ones. Right?

[/ QUOTE ]

I keep the small bills on the outside, and sort the rest by denom. I don't care what direction they are facing, or which side is facing up.

[Ed Miller]

The $50 is a metaphor for all the things the government does just to piss you off.

[Phat Mack]

Now if we can just do away with pennies . . .

Let's do away with nickles and dimes, too. When was the last time you bought something for less than a quarter?

[Malarky]

I have never seen a $50 bill.

[nothumb]

There are a lot of dead guys with families who want them on bills.

Not that I can remember off the top who is on a 50.

NT

[The Dude]

GuyOnTilt and I were just talking about this very thing. On our way back from a very late night at the cardroom, we stopped to get some fastfood breakfast. GoT payed with a bill, and got a $50 back.

As he's folding his change back into his clip, he tells me he hates $50s. I say, "I know, they take up too much room." We got an interesting look from a few of the other patrons. I guess a middle-aged working mother isn't used to seeing 2 young 20s kids folding wads of cash while discussing how much it sucks to have to carry something as cumbersome as a $50.

I see her point.

[scalf]

/images/graemlins/blush.gif it's a scientific fact fifty dollar bills are unlucky for poker players...brunson even mentions this in his original tome....(how i made over i million playing poker)..

put em in your wallet at your own risk...

gl

/images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/tongue.gif /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[andyfox]

I really used to do it on the way to the cardroom for good luck. The not-so-funny part was I would do it in the car while driving, so I suppose it was good luck that I arrived in one piece.

[andyfox]

There'd be too much opposition to doing away with all the small coins. But pennies, I think, could be done. And then we should make the nickels smaller than the dimes. I've never understood why it's bigger anyway. And how come pennies and nickels have smooth edges, but quarters and dimes are ribbed?

[daryn]

i actually prefer 50's over 100's. i'd rather have 10 50's than 5 100's on me.

[B Dids]

I feel like an [censored] buying something that costs 10 bucks with a 100, I don't with a 50.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
i actually prefer 50's over 100's. i'd rather have 10 50's than 5 100's on me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Horrible.

Wouldn't you rather have 5 20s and 4 100s? Or 10 20s and 3 100s? Please consider that.

[Martin Aigner]

Ever since the introduction of the Euro in Europe there are discussions about the 1 cent coins. Finnland, although having the Euros as currency decided back then that there won´t be any 1 cent coins in their country. Every amount was rounded up or down to the next 5 cent amount. It was a big success, and lately I´ve read that the Netherlands and Italy will follow this year. So it´s obviously possible to do.

(BTW, just as a clarification: Of cours one can pay with 1 cent coins in Finnland, they just don´t have any prices like 9.99)

Best regards

Martin Aigner

[Ed Miller]

And then we should make the nickels smaller than the dimes. I've never understood why it's bigger anyway.

Nickels are made of nickel (mostly), and dimes are made of copper and nickel. Err.. I mean they used to be made of silver... through 1964. Dimes had to be small because ten cents of silver isn't a lot of silver. In the early/mid-19th Century, the five cent piece was actually made of silver and was called a "half dime." It was smaller than a dime. But a coin smaller than a dime is... well... small, so I guess they decided to abandon the silver half dime and came up with the nickel as a replacement in the late 19th Century. Since they were making the new coin out of nickel and not silver, it could be bigger.

Around that time they also minted three cent pieces which were first made of silver, and then also made of nickel (and were, well, small). But then they abandoned those because a three cent piece is really absurd if you think about it. I mean, what can you buy for three cents that you can't buy with one two cent piece and a penny?

And how come pennies and nickels have smooth edges, but quarters and dimes are ribbed?

Basically all the coins that are or once were made of silver and gold have fancy edge designs. That's to prevent people from shaving off a small quantity of precious metal from the edge of the coin, and then spending it for full face value. The copper and nickel markets aren't nearly as enticing, so they didn't bother reeding the edges of pennies and nickels.

Sometimes the edge designs weren't reeded as they are now... sometimes they put words on them or other things, but they always put something there to discourage nefarious shavings.

Also, in the early/mid-19th Century, pennies were big, like a quarter. Isn't that a mindfuck?

[JTG51]

Noted Coin Authority (or Noted Currency Authority)?

Are you an authority on everything?

[JTG51]

I'll go as far as to say that I'd rather have 25 20's than 10 50's.

Some of the guys in my old home game would bring a 50 every week. I yelled at them every week and refused to take them at the end of the night. They kept bringing them.

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]
I love fifties. Twenty bucks just doesn't go as far as it used to.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree...imagine my dismay when I went to pay for 3 drinks at a SoCal Starbucks, at 11am on a Sunday morning (ie, after everyone and their mother had already been there) and was told that they "...don't take anything bigger than a 20."

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, in the early/mid-19th Century, pennies were big, like a quarter. Isn't that a mindfuck?

[/ QUOTE ]

Coming soon to an Amazon or Barnes and Noble near you:

Small Stakes Coin Collecting, by Ed Miller

In the prologue, S&M explain why Lee Jones was incorrect trading a quarter for a dime and two nickels.

[TimTimSalabim]

The 20 is the one out of place, it seems to me. There should be 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 only.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
The 20 is the one out of place, it seems to me. There should be 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 only.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wrong. I can do better than that w/ one less bill: 100, 20, 5, 1.

[Ed Miller]

Wrong. I can do better than that w/ one less bill: 100, 20, 5, 1.

I can do even better than that with one more bill: 500, 100, 20, 5, 1.

[GuyOnTilt]

I hate bulky pockets.

Billfold, money clips, chapstick, cell phone, mints - I always have them on me. Unfortunately though, guys don't have the luxury of getting to carry around handbags for such items, so we have to resort to pockets. I use my jacket pockets for the money clips, and usually a lighter and pack of cloves, but the rest have to go into my pants. I have a very small cell phone beause I hate bulky pockets. I use a type of Certs Mints that comes in a credit card thin container beacuse I hate bulky pockets. I carry a billfold instead of a wallet because I hate bulky pockets. So for me, fifty dollar bills are just another reason to HATE BULKY POCKETS. They take up way too much room. Period. Now, if the cage or anybody else behind a counter hands me a $50 bill, I give it right back. They are an absolute pain in the ass! Down with 50's!!!

GoT

[The Dude]

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately though, guys don't have the luxury of getting to carry around handbags for such items...

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, so what's with the man-purse you always carry around then?

[GuyOnTilt]

Yeah, so what's with the man-purse you always carry around then?

Dude, how many times 'til you get this right...IT'S A MURSE. Geez..

GoT

[Drunk Bob]

Good thing there were not a couple of muggers getting a late breakfast /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Malarky]

Wait, are 50s wider or something?

[Drunk Bob]

Damn the NPA actually knows something historical. I guess I may buy his book if Conjelco can tell me :"Why when I try to order I get ' cookies enabled or disabled 'and my order does not go through".


Nice shaving the coins. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Drunk Bob]

No they have the biggest drinker of the U.S presidents.

[TimTimSalabim]

[ QUOTE ]

I can do even better than that with one more bill: 500, 100, 20, 5, 1.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I give you a shiny new $500 bill to pay for your new book, will you kindly give me $472 in change?

[Ed Miller]

If I give you a shiny new $500 bill to pay for your new book, will you kindly give me $472 in change?

If your shiny new $500 bill is actually not really quite so new (shiny is acceptable) then perhaps we might have a mutually agreeable arrangement.

[SinCityGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
What's the point of the $50 bill?

[/ QUOTE ]

To stock the ATM's at the Crazy Horse Too?

[andyfox]

Prices like $9.99 are psychological ploys; the difference between $9.99 and $10.00 is much greater than the difference between $10.00 and $10.01.

But what really doesn't make any sense/cents, are gas station prices. Why do I pay $2.29 and 9/10 cents per gallon of gas?

[andyfox]

Thanks, Ed. Very informative. Not the least of which is that one can get the word mindfuck passed the censors.

Do you know why gasoline prices are extended to the tenth of a penny?

[andyfox]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[B Dids]

Because I'm not going to spend 99 cents in change- it totally is. A buck I'll use, 99 cents goes into a Crown Royal bag and waits for a trip to the Coinstar machine in 6 months.

[andyfox]

Shouldn't the bills match the coins? Let's do away with pennies and have nickels, quarters, and $1.00 coins and $5, $25 and $100 dollar bills.

[Ed Miller]

Do you know why gasoline prices are extended to the tenth of a penny?

The Man will squeeze you for every last tenth of a cent he can get away with.

There's a sheik in Arabia with an enormous jar full of everyone's penny tenths. He looks like Jafar from the Disney movie. I've seen him...

[ArchAngel71857]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you know why gasoline prices are extended to the tenth of a penny?

The Man will squeeze you for every last tenth of a cent he can get away with.

There's a sheik in Arabia with an enormous jar full of everyone's penny tenths. He looks like Jafar from the Disney movie. I've seen him...

[/ QUOTE ]

Because if they didn't, then Michael Bolton couldn't come up with a plot to steal it all.

I know it sounds familiar, they tried it in Superman III.

-AA

[Cygnus]

Uh, yeah...AA? Listen, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday...that'd be great, thanks.

And we need to see cover sheets on your TPS reports...did you get the memo?

[astroglide]

in the poker game of life, coinstars are the rake.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Now if we can just do away with pennies . . .

[/ QUOTE ]

Years ago I read where the government and the retail industry would save something in the neighborhood of $500 million per year if pennies were no longer made or accepted (all items bought with cash would be rounded off to the nearest nickel).

Of course the penny loafer industry would go BR /images/graemlins/grin.gif

~ Rick

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
in the poker game of life, coinstars are the rake.

[/ QUOTE ]

Coinstar is the best idea ever.

"OK, guys, here's the deal. People are going to give us $1 and we're going to give them 91 cents. Trust me, it'll work."

[rkaufman]

[ QUOTE ]
save something in the neighborhood of $500 million per year

[/ QUOTE ]

We could expand the war on terror! And drugs!

Woody

[B Dids]

OK- here's the thing.

I'm lazy and hate spending change on things.

So for me, it's worth getting 90 cents on the dollar to turn my change into money I'll use, because it's still a net gain in terms of "effective" money for me. Otherwise my change might as well be a pile of lint in a Crown Royale bag.

I fully acknowledge that I should just roll my change up and take it to the bank, but I'm lazy so I don't. A lot of people are like that, hence why Diablo is right- it's an amazing idea.

[Phat Mack]

I think the smooth edges were to help blind people distinguish them. As far as the size, when coins had intrinsic value, the dime simply had .10$ worth of silver. The old 5$ gold pieces were even tinier.

[HUSKER'66]

[ QUOTE ]
I use my jacket pockets for the money clips, and usually a lighter and pack of cloves...

[/ QUOTE ]

Are there really people out there that still smoke cloves?!?

Husker (last clove puffed in 1989)